A Scare, A Beautiful Sunset, and the Return of Internet in Kuta

According to our map, the journey to Kuta should have been very short, but for one reason or another the drive took quite some time. Upon finally arriving, our driver was very kind in indulging us as we drove from hotel to hotel comparing rooms and rates. Finally we selected a very cheap place, by the name of Hotel Sayang Maha Mertha with a nice pool and the welcome return of free breakfast. It seemed to be frequented primarily by rowdy Spaniards and overweight Australians. Our kind of people.

With our debts paid, and our belongings safely stashed in the room, we took to the streets. Our first waypoint was a laundry joint, where we dropped off some truly foul and rankly sopping articles of clothing. In exchange for a few pennies per article, we would be saved the labor of hand washing and attempting to line dry in the foglike humidity of this boiling land.

That done, we headed for a cafe that might provide Internet and sustenance. Both we found to be available in moderate quality. As we awaited the arrival of fried noodles, boiled greens, and a kind of seafood soup, I booted up the MacBook and waded into a sea of unread email. As always, this process began with a scan for fires that might need to be put out. This time the scan pulled up a fierce bogie, necessitating the hasty scarfing of our food when it finally arrived.

It seemed AirAsia had canceled our flight, and as best we could determine from the poorly worded piece of computer-generated communique, our flight to Singapore had been moved to the 28th. Looking at the email below, would you know exactly what was meant to be communicated?

This was some three days in the future and well overshot our plans to meet AsiaWheeling Dive Master and Instructor David Miller in Singapore. Obviously, we needed to speak with AirAsia and understand how they intended to get us to Borneo in a timely fashion.

Back on the cycles, we rode furiously toward the local AirAsia office, hastily locking our bikes to a telephone pole, and dashing into the relatively freezing and stark interior of the AirAsia office. A woman sat behind a large red plastic desk, quietly typing away. We were relieved to find she spoke English quite well, and even more relieved to find that our flight could be easily moved forward to the following day at five, leaving us time for a morning wheel. It would get us to Singapore in time to run our personal errands before meeting up with the esteemed Mr. Miller. It turns out that the email was actually trying to say that for three days, the given flight would depart and arrive at a later time. Either way, now it was aces all around.

Much relieved, we returned to the same cafe, and feasted like wild beasts on the Internet connection. Before we knew it, the sun was sinking low in the sky and we had not even visited the beach yet. Rumored to be quite beautiful.

So we packed up our things, grabbed some bags of our favorite local crispy-snack-shape called “Taro Net” as the convenience store was blasting swooning eletrohouse music.

Dave Darell – Children (Club Radio Mix)

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Pushing off, we pedaled for the beach. We got there just as one of the most miraculous sunsets of my life climaxed on the horizon.

We parked the bikes and sat down in the sand to watch bright oranges flash against purple and blue clouds in an evolving and shimmering light show. Really, truly, something to behold.

Indonesia had treated us well. And at this moment, watching the beautiful pastel painted clouds pass over and young merrymakers frolic on the beach, we knew it was time to leave these islands. The next morning we would be bound for Singapore, and whole new array of challenging pleasures.